Long Island Restaurants

Tupelo Honey

(THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED.)

Tupelo Honey sways to a new rhythm. When the restaurant opened under chef Michael Meehan in 1995, it was a sharp, eclectic and ebullient mix, with a Caribbean and Floridian tilt.

The vivid, cut-glass mosaics, the undulating banquette, playful imagery and energized crowd added up to a spirited, pulsating place.

But tastes, styles and the economy can change faster than the ingredients of success. The impact at Tupelo Honey was starting to show as early as 1998. The eatery had a brief decline. Some of the colorful glass chipped off the tables.

Now, the place has improved. But it's also taking a less risky route.

Henry Barone, the adroit chef at the Mill River Inn when that Oyster Bay restaurant was at its peak, has taken over the kitchen. His food here often is satisfying and very good. But the excitement clearly is reined in.

An opener of white bean soup with a drizzle of Spanish olive oil needs those Gaeta olives to liven it up. The escabeche of wild striped bass must have had a modest marinade. The fennel and roasted peppers help.

Better is the oil-cured yellowfin tuna, paired with Moroccan olives, two triangles of flatbread and a roasted pepper dressing. The sauteed Hudson Valley foie gras, resembling a plumped-up guitar pick, benefits from tart cherries, roasted pineapple and a hillock of frisee.

Tupelo Honey's beehive oven continues to send out little pizzas. The pie with mozzarella, tomato sauce and basil is routine. Instead, consider the whole wheat pizza with roasted fennel, goat cheese and a hint of orange. The cornmeal pizza boasts house-smoked salmon, scallion-seasoned mascarpone and greens.

Two pastas disappoint. Fettuccine with dayboat scallops, asparagus, tomato and cilantro is less than its ingredients would suggest. It's dull. And the whole wheat linguine, with undercooked cauliflower and peas, and roasted tomatoes, turns pasty.

Several main courses earn the restaurant its second star. The roast rack of lamb is juicy and excellent, accompanied by piquillo peppers packed with chorizo sausage. The grilled rack of pork is flavorful, accented with lemon and toasted cumin, surrounded by fat chickpeas and roasted tomatoes.

Seared yellowfin tuna, just this side of sashimi, is a fine choice, with a salad of potatoes, onions, capers and cilantro. The delicate, sauteed halibut materializes with a mushroom-and-green onion empanada that adds little.

The shellfish stew, however, is no homage to Catalonia. All the shellfish are overdone. Only the fresh corn in the broth keeps you digging in. And the otherwise anonymous roast breast of chicken receives its identification tag from Manzanilla olives.

Desserts have flair. The roasted peach, with a pit of creamy, pungent Cabrales blue cheese and a version of baklava made with pine nuts, are treats. The Key lime-meringue tower also is first-rate: a vertical pie, refreshing and right.

The S'mores tart is a witty sweet. And the vanilla bean duet of cheesecake and ice cream is a cheerful excess.

Coconut panna cotta, studded with Israeli couscous and sideswiped by kaffir lime syrup, is a dud in this company. To simplify matters, there are delectable ice creams and sorbets.

The top finales make you think about the sense of whimsy that elevated Tupelo Honey. Maybe it will take hold again.

-- Peter M. Gianotti
Reviewed Aug. 19, 2001

Music: Dinner music, 7 p.m. Mondays; acoustic jam, 10 p.m. Mondays.

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